Along with the tremendous growth in the development and marketing of personal computers and computer games, there has been a widespread occurrence of various forms of a malady classified as "repetitive motion syndrome". (RMS). This malady is especially prevalent among users of keyboards wherein long periods of typing lead to such conditions as "carpal tunnel syndrome" and strain in the ligaments and tendons of the wrists. The problem is exacerbated by the unnatural position of the hands while typing in which the wrists are turned so that the palms of the hand face downward while the fingers move across the board activating the keys. The wrists are twisted when the hand is in this orientation.
The patent literature contains a number of references intended to address this problem. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,502,460 discloses a keyboard having two sections of keys tilted with respect to one another.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,515,305 to Register discloses a PDA having a chord keyboard on the backside of the chassis for forming single alphanumeric indicia by depressing combinations of keys.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,277 to Cheng discloses hand held control units with finger operating surfaces.
U.S. Pat. No. 549,037 discloses a tiltable keyboard.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,277 to Cheng discloses hand held units with finger operating surfaces.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,515,305 to Register et al discloses a computer having a chord keyboard mounted on front and rear surfaces of the PDA computer. The problem with this keyboard is that each alphanumeric datum is entered by pressing a combination of keys and therefore the depression of the keys is not consistent with the layout of the typical keyboard to which the user has become accustomed.
However, there is no thought given to a conventional keyboard with 40 keys positioned on a keyboard in an arrangement that reduces stress on the wrists as effectively as the present invention while permitting the user to manipulate his fingers according to his training to operate state of the art keyboards.